In Praise of Wonder
All who read the tribute to Steve Jobs in N.Y. Times by his sister Mona Simpson were touched by her report that his last words, as he gazed at his family, were
“Oh Wow, Oh Wow, Oh Wow”
We don’t know what Steve meant with this statement, but certainly, there was a component of wonder in his poignant response.
There are few and far between moments when we have had similar feelings of wonder.
Maybe we felt it when we saw the Grand Canyon for the first time or observed the birth of a child.
The sad thing is that awe is there every day, right in front of our eyes, and we miss it repeatedly.
Remember the T.V. series “The Wonder Years”? In one way or another, the show depicted the perennial response of wonder of children to seemingly ordinary circumstances.
Have you watched a child lately? Everything from an ant dragging a crumb up a wall to a dog wagging its tail can elicit a wide-eyed response.
And then, in the advancing years, this natural exuberance seems to die a slow death.
The opposite of wonder could be anhedonia, the inability to experience pleasure.
That’s often a symptom of depression or other severe psychiatric disorders. But at times, large parts of our world seem to suffer from the downers.
We take ourselves too seriously.
We have so few belly laughs.
Life weighs so heavily on our shoulders.
And we struggle to lighten up.
And we miss the moments of magic in ordinary day-to-day events.
Not that all of us don’t face difficult circumstances. We do.
But wonder is up for grabs every day.
One of my sons has schizophrenia.
One of the symptoms of this disease is flattened affect. When he visited us in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico, where we lived part of the year, he had an attack of awe
We took him to the central town square on the first day of his visit. This world Heritage location is graced by a magnificent gothic-style parish church. It is one of the most beautiful and photographed structures in Mexico.
As a characteristic of his disease, he walked the mile from our home to the square silently, his gaze fixed on the sidewalk, not uttering a word. At the square, he, for a moment, lifted his fixed eye, looked at the church, and uttered
“Oh wow”
Indeed Wow. All of us still have this capacity for wonder. How can we rekindle this emotion?
- Learning to be more present in our everyday circumstances.
Such mindfulness opens the aperture of our consciousness to the experience of wonder. That is because, as J.C. Bays described mindfulness;
” We replace self-criticism with self-nurturing, anxiety with curiosity, and shame with respect for your inner wisdom.”
2. Getting out of our perpetual thoughts,
like not feeling wrong about the past or scared of the future. Read Eckhart Tolle’s “The Power of Now,” which has been a life-changing book for many.
3. Glimpsing the next world
Awe is a common experience for many on the brink of death or who have passed over and then returned to this world (Near Death Experiences).
They are utterly amazed to encounter departed loved ones, spirit guides, angels, and ascended masters who envelop them in oneness and love.
They find themselves in a stream of consciousness (my definition of the Eternal One) where there is no time, an undivided self, no judgment, and a peace beyond comprehension.
In fact most don’t want to return to their life on this earth.
No wonder that it’s a wow experience.
4. Lighten up and learn to laugh again.
It helps to surround ourselves with people who have a sense of humor and don’t take themselves or us too seriously.
That reminds me of the joke that after Steve Job’s death God introduced him to Moses by saying,
“Moses, this is Steve Jobs, he’s here to help you upgrade your tablets”
A key factor is to realize that when one is fully present in this life, one is open to wonder.
Experiencing wonder is an essential part of feeling alive. It awakens you to both the life within you and surrounding you. It also helps you find ways to not spend life sitting on the freeways wishing you were somewhere else.
Wonder is there, right under your nose.
And so is the joy that follows in its wake.
